COMM326 - Final Cut Pro

Topics covered in Session 2 (April 7):

Keyboard Shortcuts

- Keystroke "V" to hide a clip or audio section
- Keystroke "N" to cause "Snapping"
- Command +/- to quickly zoom in and out of your timeline.

Audio

- "Center" (or "zero out") your editing machine's audio - This will help ensure you are balancing audio levels well.
     - Use headphones to monitor audio coming into camera.
     - Maintain a good balance between SOT, VO or other "talking head" on camera, and any background audio (background       
       should be audible, but not overpower the "storyteller") 
- Audio levels and editing using left/right channels
     - Hum & noise removal from clips using audio EQ
- Editing audio (mixing, subtle transitions, cross dissolve effect as applied to audio/music bed)

Color Corrections/Images

- Color corrections - Copy and paste attributes (effects)
- Green screen keying. This would be a quick illustration of Final Cut's abilities, rather than a full "green-screen shoot".
- Image imports - Do not warp images
- Image fill effect: Gaussian blur an enlarged version of same image to fill space around vertical video or small image

Miscellaneous

- Export reminders: Choose the H.264 codec. Reduces size while retaining HD resolution